Summary

Despite an initial description of resistance to antiplatelet therapy more than 50 years ago, this concept continues to be controversial because of the lack of a widely accepted definition, method of measurement, and approach to management. For the sake of clarity, we have decided to use the terms failure of therapy to indicate patients who have recurrent events despite treatment with an antiplatelet, and to limit the term resistance to those patients for whom the antiplatelet agent does not achieve its pharmacological effect, as proposed by Wiviott, et al [Circ 2004;109;3064–7].